Federation balance of power – things have changed, part 3

The relative moral standing of different levels of government has shifted since the closing decades of the 20th century. And here’s why, writes Stephen Bartos.

There was once a time when commonwealth public servants were inclined to look down on their state counterparts as prone to politicisation, cronyism, mismanagement and corruption.

Often this was down to the behaviour of ministers, not public servants – but the reputation of a jurisdiction as a whole is affected when misbehaviour occurs at the level of either ministers or public servants.